California Atty. General Rob Bonta said on Wednesday that he would ask a judge to allow the state to take control of the cinemas for the County of Los Angeles.
This decision comes after years of non-compliance with the reforms ordered by the court which have been marked by riots, drug overdoses, allegations of child abuse and the death of a teenager.
In a statement, Bonta said he would ask a judge to place the county rooms in the “receiver”, which means that a civil servant named by the court would take control of “the management and operations of the miners’ rooms” of the Los Angeles County Probation Service, including the fixing of budgets and the employment and dismissal staff.
Bonta is expected to discuss this decision at a press conference in downtown around 9:45 a.m., a spokesperson for the Probation Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The rooms plagued by scandal have not seen significant improvement under the management of the Probation Department. Two installations were closed in 2023 after having repeatedly failed to comply with the basic standards to accommodate young people under Californian law. The same year, Bryan Diaz, 18, died of a drug overdose at the Center for the Treatment of Secure Young people, And the reports of Xanax and opiate overdoses among young people in the corridors have become a regular event in recent months.
Nearly three dozen probation officers have been accused of crimes related to driving in service in recent years, including 30 charges earlier this year by Bonta for staging or authorized What are called “gladiator fights” between the juveniles in detention. The agents also regularly refuse to come to work, leaving each room in the short term.
“This drastic stage to disintegrate the Los Angeles control county on its miners’ rooms is a last appeal – and the only option remaining to ensure the safety and well -being of young people currently at its expense,” the state’s statement said on Wednesday. “For four and a half years, we moved aggressively to bring the county in accordance with our judgment – and we were welcomed with glacial progress which too often looked like a step forward and a stone’s throw back. Just.
Bonta first suggested that he could ask for the stay in May, In response to questions for a time survey On the years of contempt for the state surveillance probation department.
The California’s prosecutor’s office began investigating the juvenile rooms of the county in 2018 and found that probation agents used excessively spray to pepper, not providing appropriate programming and holding young people in lonely isolation in their room for far too long. A judicial settlement in 2021 between the county of the and the office of the prosecutor general of the State aimed to improve the conditions of youth and to repress the use of force.
But the situation has apparently been getting worse in the past four years. Incidents in which staff use force against young people has increased during the life of the colony, according to files. The office of the Inspector General of the Comté de la published six reports showing that the ministry has not complied with the terms of the state monitoring agreement. Surveillance officials caught several probation officers who lie on violent incidents in the corridors after examining video sequences that contradicts written reports.
After the state has closed the other two main centers of detention of the county, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey was reopened but quickly has become a paradise for chaos. During his first month of operation, there was a riot and an attempted escape and someone brought a gun inside the youth hall.
At the end of last year, the California board of directors and the community correctional services ordered Los Padrinos to close also after failing repeated inspections, but the Guillermo Viera Rosa probation chief ignored the order, which led some to call Bonta to intervene. Finally, a county judge of Los Angeles ordered the probation service of Start sponsors Until he returns in accordance with state standards.
